The Angel Named Sai
by MckayZielke
Summary: Naruto is out hunting, desperate for food, what he finds is an angel. Compelled to keep the being alive he bring him home, carrying for him, living with him. When Sai has to leave, will Naruto be able to let him go? NarutoxSai


Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, the tv shows and all the characters pertaining to the show belong to Masashi Kishimoto, not me. I am not doing this for profit, or any other type of gain other than the pleasure of writing with his awesome characters.

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The trail was cold; as Naruto knelt beside the hoof print he felt a sense of dread descend over him. If he couldn't find this buck then what would he go home with? An empty sack, leaving his family with less food than before he went on this three day hunting trip. He hated how close he had come this morning, how he had had his bow drawn, his stance perfect, the magnificent creature in his sites. And then he had snapped a twig. It took off before he had even been able to look down to see what had happened.

He stepped it up a bit, moving more quickly through the parts of the forest that no other in his village tucked away into the valley would go. He and his family were desperate, unable to afford the butchers prices and too prideful to accept the charity offered to them from others in the actual village.

The image of his little sister sitting at the table, praying to her god gratefully for a small lump of food too pitiful to call a snack as she slowly starved away to nothing made his blood boil.

He couldn't let that happen.

He looked down at his bow, the handle a bone white, runes of an unknown origin etched into the hard material, the string having never been changed and never needing it, was also of an unknown material. It would shoot any arrow Naruto could use and all of them, almost no matter how unbalanced, would fly true. With this bow he would feed his little sister.

Naruto followed the trail as best as he could, his clear blue eyes having always been sharper than anyone else in the village he came from. He crouched low; sniffing the air as he slowly and carefully drew his bow, knocking an arrow silently. There it was, the injured buck he had been trailing for nearly three days. He took a deep breath, feeling it enter his lungs with the bitter cold air of winter, and he let his arrow fly.

It sung true, hitting the buck right behind the shoulder, easily piercing the heart and killing it instantly. Naruto whooped happily, running up to the buck with pride enough to make his head swell uncontrollably. He looked the beautiful beast over and decided that his family might be able to make it through the winter with just this one beast, maybe even having a little extra too.

His luck seemed to be turning around.

As he was skinning the beast and removing the organs a flash of light caught his attention. He gasped as he turned, a figure stumbling through the light and collapsing in front of him and slightly onto his kill. Naruto didn't move for quite a few seconds, his heart pounding so hard that he didn't think it would hold out for much longer. When he had calmed enough to move he rolled the naked man over and saw the doll-like face, the black as midnight hair, the cold white skin, and he knew he couldn't leave this man out here to die. His horse could only carry so much though so he supposed he would have to let the unconscious figure have the beast along with his kill and he himself would have to walk. Naruto wrapped the man in his sleeping blanket and harnessed him as best as he could to the saddle before setting off for home where his little sister, younger 'brother', and 'uncle' waited.

"Who is it?" asked a gruff voice from within the old house. Naruto had picketed the horse in its pen within the barn near the house and he prepared a simple fire with green wood, hanging the meat above the fire to be smoked out so that I would preserve for the winter.

The stranger had stirred while Naruto was making the fire but had not awoken. Uncle Yashamaru would not be happy about having yet another mouth to feed but Naruto would be damned if he let him freeze to death.

"It's me, Uncle." Naruto beamed at the eyes glaring at him from behind the door and the little slit to show the people inside those who were outside while still having the door shut tight.

He grunted and allowed Naruto inside, only to curse in surprise at the bundle Naruto was dragging behind him. "You were supposed to smoke whatever meat you got not bring it into the home."

"I did, it's not done just yet but Gaara should be able to bring it in soon enough. This is someone who came to me from the heavens."

"I thought you didn't believe in that stuff," the man scuffed his feet on the worn wood floor, his frail body barely able to manage working out in the fields in spring. When he was younger he was still just skin and bones but he had still had a sturdy build, now the years were getting to him and he was but an old man trying to get by in an unforgiving world.

Yashamaru knelt by the figure, his knees popping angrily, and pulled back the cloak. "He is feminine, Naruto, but no angel."

"He appeared in front of me, after I killed the buck, in a huge flash of light." At the disbelieving look Naruto continued with haste, "I swear it, Uncle! I was not seeing things."

"Brother!" a high-pitched cry interrupted them as a small blonde figure exploded out from one of the three bedrooms and it collided with Naruto with tremendous force, almost knocking him back. "You're home!"

Naruto laughed with his blood sister and he tousled her hair playfully. She was almost ten now, and it was startling how quickly she was aging. Soon she would be of the age to marry and Naruto would have to bust some skulls before she found someone suitable in Valhellen.

"Naruto," a small smile formed on Gaara's cold face as he nodded at Naruto, coming out of their bedroom. Yashamaru was Gaara's actual uncle but Naruto and his little sister Misa called him uncle all the same. The man had raised them since childhood.

A grunt came from the figure on the floor and Naruto rushed to his side. Yashamaru put a hand upon the teen's forehead and tutted. "He has a fever. Gaara, help Naruto carry this man to his bed." Yashamaru looked at Naruto with piercing eyes, "I know you boy, I know you would never agree to throw him out into the snow where he belongs, so he will take your bed and you will take the floor."

Naruto nodded his head and he and Gaara carried the mostly unconscious form to their room where he would spend the next two weeks in Naruto's bed, getting sicker rather than better.

Gaara stared at Naruto while the blonde teen lay on the ground, uncomfortable but still managing. Winter was almost over and they still had plenty of meat to keep them going until they could eat their own crops.

"He needs a doctor," Gaara muttered and Naruto nodded his head. But they both knew they shouldn't bother telling Yashamaru that; the man only took them to the doctor when it was absolutely needed, he would never take a complete stranger to the doctor and spend their sparse money on him when there would be no guarantee that he would ever get better to work off what they had already given him in the fields. "What can we do?"

"Earn the money somehow…" Naruto looked up at Gaara helplessly, "Are you sure you won't do that trick anymore? People would probably give us some tips to see it…"

"You know that's out of the question…"

"Sorry… But what can we do for him." Naruto looked over at the unconscious figure and wondered why he was so desperate to save him. He knew that compassion was one thing but obsession was something someone with his lifestyle just couldn't afford.

"Maybe we should just take him back into the woods and leave him there; maybe he will go back into that stupid light you saw."

"No, that's a dumb idea." Gaara glared at Naruto but the blonde ignored him. "Maybe I could sell my bow, it would give us a few coins and then…"

"But that was the only thing we found you and Misa with. You can't sell it."

Naruto looked at the red haired teen and nodded his assent. He knew it was a dumb idea but he had nothing else.

"Give me a reason, a really good one."

Naruto glanced at Gaara and shook his head, "There isn't one, I just have to help him, I can't let him die, not without trying to save him."

"You have already tried, Naruto. We should just…"

"Look," Naruto snapped angrily, his eyes blazing with determination, "I understand your opinion on this, I know my need to help him is irrational but I…I just have to."

Gaara stood from his bed and walked to the opposite wall, fingering a tiny hole in the wall with the tip of his hunting/flaying knife, he opened a secret compartment and pulled out a small purse. He pulled off the thong and extracted three silver coins from the pouch, "This should be enough for an examination." Another four gold followed, "And this should be enough for basic herbs of healing. Mangee might give you a discount if you sweet talk her."

"How did you get this?" Naruto asked in a low whisper, walking over and looking in awe at the pouch.

"I've been saving it for months. I don't like spending money so it only makes sense that it would build up after a while."

Naruto thanked Gaara fervently and they took Sai to the town the next day, taking three horses to make the ten-mile long journey easier with the unconscious person with them. They left the teen there under the healer's word that she would do all she could to help him. By the time Naruto decided to visit the teen about two weeks had passed and he would find out quite a bit from the stranger he considered an angel.

"Did you notice these markings, Naruto?" the old woman who was the town healer asked as she held up the teen's hand, palm up. Naruto walked over and examined the fingertips she was gesturing to with her other hand. "They are the strangest kanji I have ever seen."

"Why's that?" Naruto gently took the soft hand from the old woman and examined the four kanji carefully. They looked like they were painted gently, with the utmost care and loving intent, Naruto felt himself relax at just the sight of them.

The old woman took out a huge book that looked older than she did and opened it to a page that was marked by a red ribbon. "The marks on his left hand are those of a good nature, but those of his right…well they are not so good."

Curious despite himself, Naruto picked up the right hand and looked at the kanji there. They were drawn with all sharp angles, hastily painted and the very sight of them filled Naruto with the utmost dread and fear. "What do they mean?"

"I don't know, this book doesn't specify." She walked over to him, abandoning the book on one of her tables. The room they were in was her healing place, a single bed was currently occupied by the black haired teen and the rest of the room was crammed with preserved spices, leftover animal and human parts, and all sorts of books that Naruto had never read. "How did you come across this person, Naruto?"

The blonde looked at his younger brother who shrugged his shoulders, indicating that he didn't know if he should tell the woman the truth or not. "He appeared, out in the Shikoi Mountains in a burst of light. He's an angel…" Naruto felt slightly foolish but the old bat had never laughed at him before.

"I don't know much about divine power, Naruto, but an angel wouldn't have the markings of evil unless it had been up to no good."

"No offence, Mangee, but I just can't agree with you."

A hoarse round of coughing came from the table and three curious sets of eyes all turned to the being who could barely open his eyes, "Where…-cough- am I?"

"You're awake? Impossible, the injuries to your body shouldn't be healed enough for you to have regained consciousness yet. Here, let me examine you." Mangee walked forward but he sat up quickly, holding up his right hand defensively, the evil kanji glowing a soft red.

"Where am I?" he asked with more authority, a fearful look in his eyes, "Who are you?" he coughed violently and Mangee approached him quickly, gently pushing him back onto the bed and examining him while he coughed.

"Remarkable, you have healed very well."

"Answer…me…" he was gasping for breath and Naruto felt compelled to walk forward, into his line of sight. He was about to speak when the sick teen did first. "You…you were in the forest. They were about to get you. So you lived…" he mumbled something else in another language before the teen let his head fall back, "And I was not taken back yet. Did you remove me from the mountains?" he coughed up some blood and Mangee quickly wiped it away with a practiced hand, "My body is weak, I am losing my memory because of it… why was I sent here?"

"My name is Naruto, this is my little brother, Gaara, and the woman healing you is Mangee. I brought you from the mountains. I was hoping you could tell me why you're here."

"To save you, I think." He grunted and put a hand to his forehead, his left. A soft glow of white light emitted from his fingertips and his face became relaxed. "My name is Sai, I have a feeling I will soon forget that though." He looked urgently at Naruto, "I have to get back home; I need to get to the Shikoi Mountains as soon as possible…"

"I can take you."

"No, we need you here, to plant the crops; Uncle Yashamaru would never allow you to do something like this."

Naruto glared at Gaara, "Someone has to help him!"

"He's too weak to travel, there's no reason you should have to help him, we have no obligation."

"If what he said is true then he saved my life."

"From what? What could have possibly killed you up there that you couldn't handle yourself?"

"A Shikoi spirit wanted his soul… I can't remember why though!" Sai slammed his head onto the bed and it cracked loudly.

"Don't do that!" cried Mangee with anger, slapping him gently in the chest.

"We should go," Gaara looked at Naruto, "Mangee, if you wouldn't mind sending word when he can travel, we'll come and take him off your hands."

"How generous of you, Gaara," Naruto said bitterly, "But I am taking him back to the mountains, whether Yashamaru likes it or not."

But when the messenger came telling them of how Sai could travel once more his memory had degenerated, like he'd said it would, to the point that he could no longer recall what he needed to do in the mountains.

Yashamaru also refused to give Naruto the necessary things for travel.

"But he needs to return to the mountains!"

"It is bad enough that you have to go there for food, you will not go on this fools mission for someone who doesn't remember his own name."

"It's Sai! He knows enough… Look, just give me the supplies…"

"No."

"I have an idea," little Misa walked forward and whispered in Sai's ear, when he nodded his head yes she continued, "Why not let Sai work in the fields, so you don't have to Uncle, then, when we're done with planting what harm would it be to allow Naruto to take him away?"

Yashamaru looked at the two teens, looked at Sai's soft hands, pale white skin, knowing instinctively that he would hate working out in the sun. with a wicked smile he announced, "Then no complaining, no half assed work either. Understand, Sai?"

"Yes sir." He said, not knowing just how hard it would be on him to work out in a farming field.


End file.
